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Posted almost 5 years ago

Artist:
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Prefab Sprout
Album:
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From Langley Park To Memphis

Fine.I love, love, love this song.In the sense that I've been listening to, oh, say They Might Be Giants (more on them tomorrow) for roughly 10 years, I've been listening to Prefab Sprout's music (songs written and sung by Paddy McAloon) for about two and a half days. Spurred by a trusted friend's recommendation, I listened to Jordan: The Comeback (1990, produced by the occasionally great Thomas Dolby) and was pleased by at first some and then many of the tunes (although my initial favorites, "Wild Horses" and "Jesse James Bolero," have remained my favorites a whole two days later). Since then I've listened to Swoon ('84, interesting, formative), Steve McQueen ('85, excellent, also produced by Dolby), and From Langley Park to Memphis ('87, not good).Did I say not good? With a couple minor exceptions, yeah. Oh, but there's one major exception: the leadoff track, and the band's biggest hit (in the UK, that is, since they made no splash in the US), entitled "The King of Rock 'n' Roll."Ever since I heard that song yesterday morning, no other song has viably competed for brain-space. I listened to it at least 20 times yesterday, and I'm at a few listens again today. I'm listening to it as often as if I'd just made it myself. It's what Bowie's mid-'80s super-pop should have sounded like. It's Madonna's "Material Girl" with a welcome brain transplant (and I like "Material Girl"). It manages to use the refrain "Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque" towards sheer greatness. I'm instantly in love; it's an all-time favorite, instantly. It inspires and invigorates me. It does everything right.Please enjoy it. The video's hella cornball, so if you've never heard the song before, close your eyes.

Comments (2)

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ivylander says To me, "Steve McQueen" (known in the States as "Two Wheels Good," apparently because of the McQueen estate's easily bruised lawyers) is the pinnacle of PS, though "Jordan" is a pretty close second. I would also agree with you about "Langley Park" on the whole, except that I think "Cars and Girls" is almost as good as "King Of Rock and Roll" (which is, to me, terrific because, in addition to the delectable melody and production, a king of rock and roll is the last thing anyone would accuse Paddy McAloon of being). If the angularity and contrariness of "Swoon" interested you, you might also be interested in hearing "Protest Songs," their "lost" album (i.e. recorded before "Langley Park" but shelved when "King Of Rock and Roll" became a hit and the record company wanted to capitalize on its popularity).

Permalink posted 06/13/2007
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aedjp says Ahhhh. Now, give the rest of _From Langley Park To Memphis_ another spin or two - please do. It has some appallingly cheesy pop moments on it, but there are times when McAloon captures a sweet wide-eyed _something_, (innocence?) that I've only ever got from Prefab Sprout and perhaps Scritti Politti. It's buried a bit on "The King Of Rock And Roll" but there all the same, and it's probably the main thing I hear on tracks like "Hey Manhatten", "Nightingales" (blessed by Stevie's harmonica...!), and "I Remember That". And his lyrics are always brilliant. That track is the one I'd plead for. "I Remember That" captures wistfulness, the beginning or end of something, like almost no other track I know. It has to have the most loaded and yearning "ohh" ever breathed alongside an eighties gated snare or Roland string pad. _Did you feel it too?_ Isn't all friendship based on that? Isn't this whole Mog thing, at a low level, checking out with each other what music makes us tick or smile, based on that? _Did you feel it too?_ (Sigh... I can just see the response posted after this: "No, I didn't")

Permalink posted 06/26/2007

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